Elegant & Efficient Conservation Treatments
Creative and meticulous problem-solver for complicated condition issues. I am usually able to stabilize acute condition issues, with attractive results, without discarding original elements and character.
Respectful of client goals for practical and elegant results, whether they are private collectors or professional dealers, with a demonstrable approach of 'minimal-intervention.'
Treatments, approaches, and practices in accordance with AIC's Ethics and Guidelines for Practice.
Expert for minimally invasive treatments on printed works from:
- North America & Northern Europe, 17th-19th C.
- The American South, 1860-1865 (Confederate States of America)
Other specialties are listed below, with selected examples:
LARGE books:
- English color plate books (lithographs): Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America (1844) by Frederick Catherwood in original green cloth case; frontispiece by Owen Jones. Sketches in Egypt & in the Holy Land by Lord Wharncliffe (1855), in original binding. Constable's English landscape scenery: forty mezzotint engravings (1855) in original half-leather binding. St John's Oriental album - characters, costumes, and modes of life, in the valley of the Nile (1851) also in original binding.
- Scientific / botanical works: Trew's complete Plantae Selectae, issued in parts, 1750-1773, bound together in a contemporary leather binding. Ranlett's The Architect (1855). Bicknell's Village builder (1873).
- Atlas's: Mercator, Hondius World Atlas (9th Edition, 1623).
- 18th & 19th Century Newspapers: The Boston News-Letter (1711-1715), Boston Gazette (1775).
17th -20th C pamphlets: With wrappers (and without). British Restoration, Colonial North American political tracts (1720-1783), Irish Jacobite poetry, many sermons, annual reports, and polemical works.
Special 19th - 20th C formats: Papier Maiche binidngs (Remnant & Edmonds / Owen Jones), English Arts & Crafts Movement (Bespoke bindings in paper, parchment, cloth, leather, and especially suede), French Cartonnage bindings. Other: Illustrated Ben-Hur (Harpers, 1892) in 2 vols bound in orange silk in original slip case box.
Other Bound Materials:
- Extensive fold-out illustrations: Carl Wadström's An Essay on Colonization (London, 1794-95), with many large maps and woodcut illustrations in 2 vols.
- 19th C decorative cloth "Publisher's Bindings": Kneeland/Soule, The wonders of the Yosemite Valley and of California (1873), containing 10 photographic prints.
- Small format 17th & 18th Century books, plainly bound. Including scaleboard bindings.
- 20th C paperbacks: First edition of Nabokov's Lolita (1955, Olympia Press, Paris) in 2 volumes.
- Ehon
- Leather-covered bindings: Ruskin's Stones of Venice (1851) in full leather.
- Portfolios of Artist prints / Livres A'artistes: 100 grabados en madera por Posada (1947), with color-printed paper wrapper.
- Scrapbooks / Albums
LARGE prints:
- Ukiyo-e / Japanese Woodblock Prints: Yoshitoshi, [title witheld] (1885).
- 20th C Posters and prints
- 19th C Chromolithographs
- Maps (folded in wrappers, flat, or previously excised from atlas's): Colton's map of New England (1867). Lloyd's Topographical map of Georgia (1864). Blaeu's Guniea (1635). Skeleton map exhibiting the route explored by Capt. J.W. Gunnison (1855).
- Cyanotypes/Blueprints. Vaux
Other Unbound Formats / Flat works:
- Lithographs
- Watercolors. Alexander Parris
- Engravings
- Handbills and broadsides: incl 17th & 18th C North American Ephemera. "Memento Mori" broadsides of Johnathan Alden (1697) and Gershom Bulkeley (1713).
- Manuscript material. Jean Sibelius original score [Title redacted], [1908].
Other formats:
- Modern Book Art
- Historic packaging and small boxes
- Daguerrotype cases / early photographic cases
- Dust jackets
Working with Knight Art Services LLC
Our clients enjoy:
- Unlimited free virtual consultations
- Lifetime guarantee on materials and labor (not valid without appropriate frame or enclosure)
- Discounted documentation fees
- Bulk discounts
Please email, or fill out the form at the bottom of this page, to arrange a free virtual appointment. I would love to know more about your object (or collection) and what your goals for treatment may be. From there we can discuss how I might get access to the object in order to prepare a proposal.
2022 rate: $75/hr. (This rate is among the lowest you will find among AIC-PA peer-reviewed conservators anywhere.) Enclosures, framing, taxes, and shipping extra. 'Rush' rates are negotiable; beginning at $180/hr.
Proposal/Documentation fee is $35. After acceptance of a proposal, the time for completion varies (average is 2 months).
10+ years of Special Collections Conservation Experience
10+ years of Special Collections Conservation Experience
10+ years of Special Collections Conservation Experience
Peer-reviewed 'Professional Associate' of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC-PA), conferred 2018. Particular specialty tidying up previous crude repairs. All types of bound volumes fixed effectively, efficiently, and elegantly. Works on paper treated for stabilization and conservation, with limited restoration (in-painting, etc.), with fastidious documentation.
Start a conversation
10+ years of Special Collections Conservation Experience
10+ years of Special Collections Conservation Experience
FREE INITIAL CONSULTATIONS. Book a free virtual appointment below or by emailing info@knightartservices.com.
Honest, approachable, and client-focused. Discretion and confidentiality assured.
Contact Us
Interested to connect? Let us know.
NOTE: In order to ensure that Knight Art Services LLC avoids any real and perceived conflict of interests between it and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts / Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, Knight Art Services LLC does not work on any projects funded by, procured, or otherwise administered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, its municipalities, or libraries located therein, directly or indirectly.
Knight Art Services LLC
By appointment only in Greater Boston. Please fill in the form for initial contact - we are happy to connect thereafter via call, virtual visit, or distanced in-person visit.
This website uses cookies.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.